Rotatable tray for attachment to a vertical pole

ABSTRACT

A rotatable tray which may be mounted to a vertical pole. A tray having an upright truncated conical shell formed on the tray at a central location on the tray. This conical shell having a bore extending therethrough for receiving the vertical pole. The interior of the shell having a beveled configuration inclining upwardly and inwardly. A separate hollow support sleeve is mounted to the vertical pole. The support sleeve has a truncated conical shape for being received in the bore of the conical shell and further has an interior surface having a beveled shape inclining upwardly and inwardly. An “O” ring or other stop member, constructed of resilient material, is located on the vertical pole at a selected position. The hollow support sleeve is then positioned to cover the “O” ring or other stop member and the tray fitted over the hollow support sleeve.

SPECIFICATION

This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/512,554 filed on Oct. 17, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a rotatable tray to be attached to a vertical pole such as an umbrella pole.

A shade umbrella is often attached to a vertical pole to shade a picnic table or patio table. The vertical pole of these shade umbrellas may extend through an opening in a circular table, for example, with an end of the pole anchored in a foot and the upper end supporting the sun shade or umbrella. It is convenient when shade umbrellas are used in this manner to provide a tray connected to the vertical pole to hold goods such as salt and pepper shakers or other items.

Such trays mounted to a vertical umbrella pole are known such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,634 to Lindblom.

A need exists, however, for providing a tray which is rotatably mounted to the vertical pole so that the tray acts as a “Lazy Susan”. With this tray a person sitting at the table can revolve the tray so that a desired item on the tray is positioned in front of the user.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention provides a rotatable tray which may be mounted to a vertical pole such as an umbrella pole. The present invention includes a tray having an upright truncated conical shell formed on the tray at a central location on the tray. This conical shell has a bore extending therethrough for receiving the vertical pole, the interior of the shell having a beveled configuration inclining upwardly and inwardly. A separate hollow support sleeve is mounted to the vertical pole. The support sleeve has a truncated conical shape for being received in the bore of the conical shell and further has an interior surface having a beveled shape inclining upwardly and inwardly. An “O” ring or other stop member, constructed of resilient material, is located on the vertical pole at a selected position. The hollow support sleeve is then positioned to cover the “O” ring or other stop member. When the hollow support sleeve is pressed downwardly over the “O” ring or other member to compress the “O” ring or other stop member against the vertical pole and the conical shell of the tray fitted over the hollow support sleeve, the tray is rotatably supported on the vertical pole at the selected position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a rotatable tray according to the present invention mounted on an umbrella pole;

FIG. 2 is a detail perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the invention shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4 with the rotatable tray mounted on an umbrella pole.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A rotatable tray 10 according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 attached to a generally vertical pole 12 which extends through a circular table 14. A bottom end of the pole 12 is anchored in a foot 16 and the upper end of the pole supports a sunshade or umbrella 18.

The rotatable tray device 10 includes a tray 20 which, in a preferred embodiment, has a circular configuration. An upstanding lip 22 is provided around the periphery of the tray 20. An upright conical shell 24 is mounted to the tray at a geometric center of the tray 20. The shell 24 has a truncated cone configuration with a bore 26 extending through the upper surface of the shell 24, as shown in FIG. 3. The inner surface of shell 24 has a beveled surface 28, inclining upwardly and inwardly, as shown in FIG. 3. The bore 26 is sized to receive the pole 12.

The tray 20 further includes a radially extending open slot 30. The slot 30 is sized in lateral width to correspond to the diameter of the pole 12. The slot 30 extends through a sidewall of shell 24 to the bore 26, as shown in FIG. 2. The lip 22 extends along the slot 30, as shown in FIG. 2.

A hollow support sleeve 32 is fitted onto pole 12, as shown in FIG. 2. The support sleeve 32 has a truncated conical configuration having an exterior shape conforming to the internal bevel 28 of shell 24. The interior surface of support sleeve 32 has a beveled shape 34, inclining upwardly and inwardly, as shown in FIG. 3. A pair of “O”-rings 36 are positioned on pole 12, as shown in FIG. 2. The interior diameter of the “O”-rings 36 being sized to be slightly smaller than the pole 12 so that the “O”-rings are resiliently secured to the pole 12. In a preferred embodiment, a pair of “O”-rings 36 are used, but fewer or more “O”-rings could be used equally as well.

In using the rotatable tray according to this first embodiment, the “O”-rings 36 are positioned on the pole 12 at a desired location, and the sleeve 24 moved downwardly covering the “O”-rings 36, as shown in FIG. 3, thereby compressing the “O”-rings against the pole 12. The more downward pressure applied on the support sleeve 32 the greater the gripping force of the “O”-rings 36 on the pole 12. Next, the tray 20 is positioned with the pole extending through the bore 26, and the shell 24 lowered to cover the support sleeve 32. In this manner, the tray 20 is held at a position determined by the location of the “O”-rings 36. The tray is easily rotatable about the pole 12 for serving food and other items. Further, the height of the tray 20 above the table 14 can easily be changed by changing the position of the “O”-rings 36.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment, the “O”-rings 36 are replaced with a hollow conical stop 38. The stop 38 has a generally truncated cone configuration, the outer surface of which corresponds with the beveled surface of support sleeve 32. In a preferred embodiment, the stop 38 is constructed of rubber, but other compressible materials could be used equally as well.

The stop 38 has a bore 40 extending therethrough. The bore 40 is sized to receive the pole 12. The stop 38 further has a slit 42 so that the stop 38 can be opened to receive the pole 12.

In using this second embodiment of the present invention, the stop 38 is opened about slit 42 and positioned with the pole 12 extending through bore 40. The stop 38 is then slid to a selected position corresponding to the desired height of the tray 20 above the table 14. The support sleeve 24 is then moved downwardly to cover the stop 38. The more force applied in a downward direction by the support sleeve 32, the tighter the stop 38 grips the pole 12. The tray 20 is then mounted on the pole 12 as described with the first embodiment, and is supported by the support sleeve 32.

While the fundamental novel features of the invention have been shown and described, it should be understood that various substitutions, modifications and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Accordingly, all such modifications or variations are included in the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims; 

1. A tray having structure for rotatably mounting the tray at a selected position on a vertical pole comprising: an upright truncated conical shell with a top that is narrower than a bottom and formed on the tray at a central location of the tray; the conical shell having an axial bore therethrough which has a beveled configuration inclining upwardly and inwardly; the axial bore through the top of the conical shell sized to slidably receive the vertical pole; the tray further including a radially extending open slot sized in lateral width to receive the vertical pole, the slot extending through a side wall of the conical shell and opening into the axial bore; a hollow support sleeve having a truncated conical shape with a top that is narrower than a bottom and having an exterior surface conforming to the internal beveled surface of the conical shell and an interior surface having a beveled shape inclining upwardly and inwardly; the hollow support sleeve having an opening at the top sized to receive the vertical pole; and an “O” ring constructed of resilient material and sized to snugly receive the vertical, pole; the “O” ring fitted on the, vertical pole at the selected position; the hollow support sleeve mounted to the vertical pole with the vertical pole extending through the opening at the top of the hollow support sleeve and at a position where the hollow support sleeve covers the “O” ring; whereby when the hollow support sleeve is pressed downwardly over the “O” ring, to compress the “O” ring against the vertical pole and the conical shell of the tray fitted over the hollow support sleeve, the tray is rotatably supported on the vertical pole at the selected position.
 2. A tray having structure for rotatably mounting the tray at a selected position on a vertical pole comprising: an upright truncated conical shell with a top that is narrower than a bottom and formed on the tray at a central location of the tray; the conical shell having an axial bore therethrough which has a beveled configuration inclining upwardly and inwardly; the axial bore through the top of the conical shell sized to slidably receive the vertical pole; the tray further including a radially extending open slot sized in lateral width to receive the vertical pole, the slot extending through a side wall of the conical shell and opening into the axial bore; a hollow support sleeve having a truncated conical shape with a top that is narrower than a bottom and having an exterior surface conforming to the internal beveled surface of the conical shell and an interior surface having a beveled shape inclining upwardly and inwardly; the hollow support sleeve having an opening at the top sized to receive the vertical pole; and a hollow stop having a truncated conical shape with a top that is narrower than a bottom and having an exterior surface conforming to the internal beveled surface of the hollow support sleeve; the stop constructed of resilient material and having a bore therethrough from bottom to top sized to slidably receive the vertical pole; the stop further having a through slit extending from the bottom to the top whereby the stop may be opened about the slit; the stop fitted on the vertical pole at the selected position; the hollow support sleeve mounted to the vertical pole with the vertical pole extending through the opening at the top of the hollow support sleeve and at a position where the hollow support sleeve covers the stop; whereby when the hollow support sleeve is pressed downwardly over the stop to compress the stop against the vertical pole and the conical shell of the tray fitted over the hollow support sleeve, the tray is rotatably supported on the vertical pole at the selected position. 